The End
by Harry Tomlinson
Summary: My words for Naruto ending, my opinion on the chapter, how I got into Naruto initially, and why I ship NaruHina and SasuSaku. Please, comment down below your feelings towards Naruto, what you ship and why, how you felt about the series and the ending, really all of it. I'd love to hear and discuss with you all :)


Okay guys, wow, I guess that's it. Naruto is finally over after 15 years. I remember I started watching the show when I was between 4 and 6 years old. That's roughly 10 years I've been dedicated to this series, manga and anime. I remember the first episode I ever watched was Battle Formation: Ino Shika Cho!, right in the middle of the chunin examination. I was sitting on the floor in the basement of my house after my brother had told me to watch something with him. I fell in love instantly, constantly asking him questions like 'who's that' and 'what's he doing' etc. I shipped SasuSaku from the start, my first reasoning was when she helped him come back from the curse mark that initial time. That means the world to me, personally.

I never really read the manga because the backwards way it's printed confused me too much. Instead for the past 10 years I've had my brother read the chapters online and summarize them for me. Back when we could easily get our hands on the books-for some reason they stopped printing or something in America at like 30 I think- I'd have to wait longer but it was always worth it. He and I would make theories, and I think along with a lot of other people, thought that the Akatsuki Leader was Yondame Hokage. I also thought that Yondame was his name, not his title.

Do any of you remember way back when Tobi theories were being thrown around? My favorite, and the most appalling to me, would have to be Tobirama. I'm speaking realistically here, of course I'd heard completely insane theories such as The Ramen Shop owner, and even Akamaru. However I liked the idea of Tobirama being Tobi, it never could've happened.

I've spent the last 10 years of my life with this series, and it's been a rollar coaster of emotions. From when Sasuke left the village to when we finally saw him again at the beginning of shippuden-did anyone else have that irritating 3 year hiatus?- And from hating Gaara, to loving him, to crying over his death, back to loving him. I think it's safe to say this series has put all of us through a lot. And I know I'm only using some examples, and that there are so many more I'm not even looking at right now.

But i also just wanted to remind all the fans who've said 'Kishimoto ruined it" or whatever, because of the ships, or the seemingly abrupt end. This is a very hard manga to end, you must realize that. Throughout the series one of the main themes is forgiveness. Think about all the times someone has forgiven someone else, Gaara was forgiven for treating his siblings poorly, he forgave his village for fearing him. Naruto forgave Minato for sealing Kurama inside of him. And so many more. So now, when Sasuke finally asks for his forgiveness, he's given it.

Squad 7 did, still, and will always love and be there for one another, even when they're not wanted.

And as for the NaruSaku shippers, I'm going to try and explain why SasuSaku and NaruHina make more sense than NarSak.

When it comes to NaruHina, in part 1 Naruto had this obsessive crush on Sakura, constantly asking her out and proclaiming his love. He was blinded by these emotions for her, heartbroken when she rejected him to go have the same feelings for Sasuke. However, if you look and pay attention to the relationships you will see that Hinata has always had feelings for him. Duh. He motivated her to become stronger and to not let her family bring her down. He proved to her that if she believed in herself then she could get stronger and become the woman she wanted to be, cheesy I know but also very true. During the chunin examination while she's fighting Neji, Naruto is the only one cheering, and he's cheering for Hinata. He tells her that she can win and he believes in her, and over time she begins to believe in herself too. During the war, right before Neji's death, or it might be right after I don't remember, Hinata has the huge speech when Naruto wants to give up. She tells him all that he's done for her and how it's helped her, it's really a very touching speech. At the end she confesses her love to him, and he's no longer giving up. Also remember, Kushina said she wanted Naruto to find a girl like her. What she meant by this, is someone who's loving and kind, strong, supportive, and driven. These are all traits that can be used to describe both Kushina and Hinata. Naruto and Hinata have supported each other through thick and thin, even when they barely knew one another. They were meant to be together.

And, when it comes to SasuSaku, in part 1 Sakura was an annoying girl with an obvious crush. No one can deny that, I'll even go as far to say Sasuke downright hated her. I choose to believe this is because she was throwing herself at him when she barely knew him, she just knew that he was attractive and talented. However, things begin to change with their relationship also in the chunin examination. When he's gone mad with the taste of power, she hugs him and begins to cry. Seeing her hurt like this allows him to pull back from Orochimaru's grip. It was apparent that she'd begun to develop real feelings for him, and he'd slowly begin to not shove her away. When Sasuke is in the hospital and Squad 7 I believe it is, are all in the hospital room when Sasuke wakes up, Sakura hugs him. Now, if you look back through the manga, the few times Ino tried to hug him, and many, many times Karin tried to get into his pants, he had a look of disgust on his face. Now, people may argue that he was sick, and too tired to shove her away, which very well might be partially true. But keep in mind this is Sasuke we are talking about- the least he could've done if he hated it so much was glare at her. He didn't. If anything, he seemed relaxed when she held him. She promises Naruto at the end of part one that she'll rescue Sasuke and stop being a burden to everyone. She trains and becomes one of the strongest ninja in the village. And on multiple occasions tries to kill him, and tries to move on and love Naruto because she is heartbroken. Even Naruto, who at the time still had feelings for her, told her no when she quote, 'admitted' her love to him. She truly loved Sasuke and everyone knew it, and it wasn't going to change. Sasuke however, was not so clear cut. After Donzo's death Sakura ambushes him, to which he easily could've wiped her out right then and there. Tobi wouldn't have cared, and it truly wouldn't have made a difference to him one way or another. Or, so is presented. She's given the opportunity to join Taka, which I believe if she'd agreed and it had gone through, the two would've worked together flawlessly as professionals. However, he did not kill her given the chance, and every time he sees her throughout Shippuden he acknowledges her. Now, honestly I have to reread the war bits because my brother verbally explained them. But I believe the act of the 3 of them coming together for quote, '1 final mission' so to put it, shows he really cares for not only Naruto but Sakura as well. And during Naruto and Sasuke's final battle, at the end when Sakura comes to them, she's crying. She begins to heal them and Sasuke shows remorse over what he'd done to her personally. He addresses her first, telling her he was sorry how he'd hurt her. He could've said I'm sorry to his entire team, but chooses to apologize to Sakura. Then, there is my new favorite, the forehead poke. We all know and love how Itachi poked Sasuke throughout his childhood, his way of showing love and affection to his baby brother. Though at the time it seemed irritating to Sasuke, overtime it's made clear that it's his way of saying I love you. (overtime=at the end of the uchiha battle) Sasuke then pokes Sakura's forehead, a sign that he'd held dear to him and meant for affection and love. Along side his 'I'll see you later' promise, the two actions make for a very obvious realization, and finally showing, of Sasuke's affection towards Sakura. Also remember that Sakura's forehead has always been a joke, her large forehead. We all know this. Sasuke's poking her featured as he did, the gesture is little but it also shows how he has always cared and loved her, even when she was young and shy about her feature. He was just to wrapped up in his plot for revenge to notice. He tells her again, Thank you, which is something special between them. He's thanking her for everything she has for him, her love, everything she's done for him. He's thanking her for never giving up on saving him.

Wow that was long. I kind of ship SasuSaku more than anything in the world so..yeah. Long proof. Also I truly believe that Kishimoto ended it the way he wanted to end it, a final battle between Naruto and Sasuke and squad 7 being reunited. He's said that he'd put Sasuke with Sakura before any other girl, and I'm glad he did. No other girl accepts him the way she does, and can give him the love he's been neglected of his entire life.

I realize that the majority of this seems like SasuSaku proof, or it does to me as I'm typing this, but I've honestly loved everything in this show so much I don't even know where to begin. It means so much to me, and now that this part of my life is over I'm actually quite sad. I love you, Naruto.

However, the series ended on a pretty fucking amazing note if you ask me, as we see them as adults, leading their lives with their children. Truthfully my only complaint is I'm not a huge fan of their design, and I wish Naruto had a scene with Himawari and Sasuke had a seen with Salada/Sarada. I still don't know which spelling to use, oops.

But other than those 2 minor things, which may be covered in the movie, I don't know, I've honestly loved this series beginning to end and I'll read it and watch it over and over again. Thank you Mishashi Kishimoto, Naruto has really impacted my life.


End file.
